Senior Dating Dilemma— Friendship or Romance?

For single senior women aged 60 and up, finding love again is difficult.

One of the biggest reasons is the number of available single senior men diminishes as the women grow older. For women in their 70s, the ratio of single women to available single men is often 4-to-1, or even higher.

A single 78-year-old woman, who requested I not use her name, contacted me recently. I’ll call her Betsy. She asked for my opinion.

Betsy emailed, “I have given up on dating, but I do have friends I go out with every Thursday. One of them is an 80-year-old man who lost his wife three years ago after 55 years of marriage.

“He has often shown an interest in me. For example, last night, at our usual sports bar gathering for dinner and drinks, I leaned in to say something to him and he said, ‘If you keep leaning in like that, I will have to kiss you; I have wanted to do that for a long time.’